Alligator shears

ABSTRACT

An alligator shear for large scrap which has a bed with widely spaced sets of anvil blades, a wide jaw pivoted to the bed and having shearing blades on opposite sides for coaction with the spaced sets of anvil blades on the bed to provide a double cut, fluid pressure operated cylinders arranged to pull down on the jaw, and spaced upwardly projecting protectors for the rods of the cylinders, which protectors serve as guides for the front end of the jaw, the jaw and bed being exposed and accessible on both sides.

United States Patent Chazen 51 Feb. 29, 1972 [54] ALLIGATOR SHEARS 3,196,727 7/1965 Pray ..83/607 X 3 279,295 10/1966 Teplitz..... [72] lnventor: Julius L. Chazen, C/O SMC Industries,

Inc" chauanoogaTenn. 7 3,468,206 9/1969 Bakula ..83/599 [22] Filed: Jan. 28, 1970 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [21] Appl. No.: 6,513 127,606 3/1950 Sweden ..83/609 Primary Examirier-Frank T. Yost [52] US. Cl ..83/599, 83/609, 834/6932; Anamey Morsen & Morse [51 I Int. Cl ..B23d 17/06 [581 Field olSearch ..83/599,609, 597, 607,608, [57] ABSTRACT 83/620 t 639 An alligator shear for large scrap which has a bed with widely spaced sets of anvil blades, 3 wide jaw pivoted to the bed and [56] Rem'em having shearing blades on opposite sides for coaction with the UNITED STATES PATENTS spaced sets of anvil blades on the bed to provide a double cut, fluid pressure operated cylinders arranged to pull down on the 3,387,523 6/1968 Pray ..83/609 X jaw, and spaced upwardly projecting protectors for the rods of 3,276,307 1966 j s X the cylinders, which protectors serve as guides for the front lv093460 4/1914 Mullins 83/609 X end of the jaw, the jaw and bed being exposed and accessible 2,467,161 4/1949 Shee1ey.... 83/601 X on both id 3,004,458 10/1961 Dvorak ...83/607 X 3,157,082 1 l/ 1964 Thompson ..83/923 X 1 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures 1,7 I 1'1 2 A m I \J j I:

I Z I// \u I\ I l x M 24 1 ,1 \\\\-\\\X\ ii-t? V ll ii H II II Ii [I ll ll 11 [I H ll [1 11 II II II Il 5 "i v A. 1 II II II II 1| ll 11 ll ,ll/ I I 50 1| 11 n u 7 M1141 PATENTEDFEB29 m2 3. 645, 159

II n u u u u n u n/l u u Mil/H:

"" u u n 1| 7 INVENTOR JUL US L.CHAZEN ATTORNEYS ALLIGATOR SHEARS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention pertains to a large-size alligator shear particularly suitable for large scrap where a double cut is desirable.

2. Description of the Prior Art The conventional alligator-type shear has a single movable cutting jaw coacting with an anvil blade for action similar to that of a hand shear. The alligator-type shear is advantageous over the guillotine type in that it is accessible from either side, whereas the guillotine type is usually accessible only from the front. Conventional alligator shears make only a single cut and usually have a backup frame projecting upwardly from the bed at the rear of the shear blade for supporting the operating mechanism. This is expensive and cumbersome.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an alligator shear having a bed with widely spaced sets of anvil blades and having a wide jaw pivoted to the bed, with shearing blades on opposite sides for coaction with the spaced sets of anvil blades on the bed to provide a double cut, pulldown means in front of the jaw connected between the forward end of the jaw and the front end of the bed, and spaced protecting and guiding means for protecting the pulldown mechanism and for guiding the forward end of the jaw during pivotal movement to maintain the jaw in perfect alignment.

It is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved alligator-type shear with a wide jaw which is capable of making a double cut and which is therefore very effective in the shearing of large scrap or other items where a double cut is useful or desired.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved alligator shear having a novel arrangement for utilizing pulldown leverage to reduce the horsepower requirements.

A further object of the invention is to provide novel means for guiding the forward end of the jaw whereby a very large jaw may be successfully employed and kept in proper alignment.

A further object of the invention is to provide an alligator shear as above described in which there is a pair of laterally spaced fluid pressure operated cylinders pivotally connected to the front of the bed forwardly of the anvil blades and having extensible rods pivotally connected to the jaw near the forward end of the latter and beyond the shearing blades, the arrangement being such that the jaw is operated by a pulldown stroke, with the rods arranged to maintain the front end of the jaw in alignment.

A further object of the invention is to provide an alligator shear as described in the preceding paragraph in which there are upwardly projecting laterally spaced rod protectors positioned to guide the forward end of the jaw and to protect the rods of the fluid pressure operated cylinders from the material being cut.

A further object of the invention is to provide an alligator shear in which the need for a massive backup frame or standard projecting upwardly from the rear end of the bed is eliminated.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved alligator shear in which the blades are always engaged and never out of track.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists of the improved alligator shear, and all of its parts and combinations, as set forth in the claims, and all equivalents thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings, illustrating one complete embodiment of the preferred form of the invention, in which the same reference numerals designate the same parts in all of the views:

FIG. I is a side elevational view of the improved alligator shear, the broken lines showing a partly pulled down position;

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the jaw in open condition in full lines, the broken lines showing a partly pulled down position; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view through the anvil blades of the bed showing the shearing coaction of the jaw therewith.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 10 designates a suitable bed having spaced side supports 11 and 12. Suitably supported on the rear portion of the bed to project upwardly therefrom are spaced pivot plates 13. The inner end of a movable jaw 14 is pivotal on the axis of a pivot member 15, the latter extending between the spaced pivot plates 13.

The movable jaw 14, instead of having a narrow shearing element, as is common, has substantial width, as is clear from FIGS. 2 and 3. It has an underplate 16, the latter being T- shaped in cross section to provide longitudinal grooves 17 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Removably secured to the plate in the grooves 17 by screws 18 are blades 19. The blades 19 have outer sides 20 which are substantially flush with the corresponding sides of the underplate 16. The lower longitudinal corners of said outer sides 20 constitute the shearing edges. When the blades become worn they can, of course, be removed and reversed to bring other corner edges in position for shearing action.

The shearing edges of the blades are positioned to enact with the shearing edges 21 of anvil blades 22 (see FIG. 3). The latter are removably secured to the inner sides ofspacetl elongated anvil members 23 carried by the spaced side supports 1 1 and 12 ofthe bed.

Projecting upwardly from the forward end of the bed are rod protecting and jaw guiding plates or members 24 which are curved as shown in FIG. 1 on a radius of the jaw pivot 15. The protecting plates 24 are spaced apart to provide a slot 25 as shown in FIG. 2, which slot is of a width to guidingly receive the forward end of the blade portion of the jaw as shown by broken lines in FIG. 2. It is preferred to have a webbing member project forwardly from each protecting plate 24 as at 26 to in effect provide a protecting enclosure which is L- shaped in cross section for each operating rod 27, which rods project from the fluid pressure operated cylinders 28. The latter are preferably double acting hydraulic cylinders and have their upper ends pivoted as at 30 between pairs of plates 29 projecting forwardly from the front end of the bed.

The forward end of the jaw has an upright plate 31 projecting from its forward end intermediate the width thereof. Projecting laterally from the plate 31 on each side thereof are plates 32, each plate 32 having pivot ears 33 depending therefrom. The upper ends of the rods 27 are pivotally eonnected as at 34 between the ears 33. Gusset pieces 37 tie the plates 32 to the plate 31 and strengthen the structure.

It is to be noted from FIGS. 1 and 2 that the edges 35 of the plates 32 which face the jaw pivot will slide on the outer convex surfaces of the curved protecting plates 24 when the jaw is pulled downwardly, the extreme forward ends of the jaw blades 20 sliding just within the adjacent edges 36 of the slot 25. The lateral plates 32 move in front of the curved protecting plates 24 and overlap the sides of the slot 25 during movement, as shown by broken lines in FIG. 2.

In operation, with the jaw in the position of FIG. 1, scrap may be fed in from either side, or may be fed from both sides simultaneously, the feeding being in the space between the curved protector plates 24 and the pivoted end of the jaw. With the material in position, the hydraulic cylinders 28 are caused to operate in a pulldown direction to forcibly pull the jaw down in a shearing stroke to make a double cut. During such movement of the jaw the extreme front ends of the blades 20 slide adjacent the edges 36 of the protector plates in the slot 25. At the same time the laterally projecting plates 32 which support the pivot ears and the upper ends of the rods 27 move in front of the plates 24 in overlapping relationship with HHUH mm the sides of the slot 25. It is to be noted that the rods 27 are protected by the plates 24 from scrap which is being fed into the machine and are, in effect, protected by an enclosure which is L-shaped in cross section because of the webbing 26 which protects the rods from the outer sides. In addition, due to the arrangement of the two laterally spaced cylinders and rods. the front end of the jaw is pulled down in a manner which maintains the jaw in perfect alignment. In addition, this alignment is insured because of the movement in the slot 25 between the protecting plates 24.

To open the jaw, the hydraulic cylinders 28 are operated in the reverse direction. If a single cut only is desired, material may be caused to project over one set of anvil blades only. Normally, however, in order to obtain full use of the advantages of the present invention, the material will be extended over the tops of both anvils, and when the jaw 14 pivots downwardly it will make a double cut to produce a cut piece having a suitable width for handling and storage.

With the improved arrangement of the present invention the blades are engaged with the anvil on two sides during shearing, which eliminates any effect from side stresses and always insures proper alignment of the movable blades. The arrangement also renders both sets of blades self-cleaning and, to a degree, self-sharpening.

It is to be noted that, due to the novel arrangement of pulldown rams 27-28 at the front end of the machine, and with the novel guiding arrangement for the front of the jaw, it is possible to eliminate the usual upright standard or backup frame which is usually at the right-hand end of an alligator shear, referring to FIG. 1, and which usually supports the operating mechanism from above the jaw.

lt is to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the "Illl exact details of construction shown and described, for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

l. A scrap shear having an elongated bed with front and rear ends and provided with anvil blade means on one side and laterally spaced anvil blade means on the other side, a wide jaw having front and rear ends pivoted at its rear end to said bed for pivotal movement to and from shearing position, said jaw having a front extension and said jaw being of a width to fit between the spaced anvil blade means on the bed, and having shearing blade means on one edge positioned to coact with the anvil blade means on one side of the bed and having shearing blade means on the other edge positioned to coact with the anvil blade means on the other side of the bed to provide a double cut, and said bed being exposed on both sides whereby material may be fed from either side of the shear, the blade means extending rearwardly from the front end of the jaw throughout a major portion of the length of the jaw to a position near the jaw pivot, a fluid pressure operated cylinder pivotally connected near its upper end to the front of the bed forwardly of the anvil blades and having an extensible rod projecting upwardly therefrom, and guiding members projecting upwardly from the front of the bed and providing a slot therebetween positioned to slideably receive the front extension of the jaw to maintain the jaw in alinement as it is operated, said guiding members having spaced side-plates between which the rod operates, and the front extension of the jaw being located between said sideplates when the jaw is in a lowered position, the upper end of the rod being pivotally connected to said front extension of the jaw, and said sideplates being disposed to provide protection at the sides of the rod. 

1. A scrap shear having an elongated bed with front and rear ends and provided with anvil blade means on one side and laterally spaced anvil blade means on the other side, a wide jaw having front and rear ends pivoted at its rear end to said bed for pivotal movement to and from shearing position, said jaw having a front extension and said jaw being of a width to fit between the spaced anvil blade means on the bed, and having shearing blade means on one edge positioned to coact with the anvil blade means on one side of the bed and having shearing blade means on the other edge positioned to coact with the anvil blade means on the other side of the bed to provide a double cut, and said bed being exposed on both sides whereby material may be fed from either side of the shear, the blade means extending rearwardly from the front end of the jaw throughout a major portion of the length of the jaw to a position near The jaw pivot, a fluid pressure operated cylinder pivotally connected near its upper end to the front of the bed forwardly of the anvil blades and having an extensible rod projecting upwardly therefrom, and guiding members projecting upwardly from the front of the bed and providing a slot therebetween positioned to slideably receive the front extension of the jaw to maintain the jaw in alinement as it is operated, said guiding members having spaced sideplates between which the rod operates, and the front extension of the jaw being located between said sideplates when the jaw is in a lowered position, the upper end of the rod being pivotally connected to said front extension of the jaw, and said sideplates being disposed to provide protection at the sides of the rod. 